To Be Human
by Acaykath
Summary: Inuyasha hates his life, living at the shrine and working under the critical eye of his brother. An accident involving a soapy floor and some rotten boards send him tumbling down the ancient well and finds himself in the care of a cute cat hanyou.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** Inuyasha belongs to whoever hold the rights in whatever country you live in. I do not own any of the characters from the anime or manga. I do, however, own several of the minor demons and villagers that may appear incidentally and this particular fixation of the storyline wherever it diverges from cannon..

**Inspired by:** Skyfire Dragono's "Twist of Fate"

**Summary:** Inutaisho Inuyasha is a gruff boy living in a temple in modern Japan. His mother and father are dead and gone and the temple priest, his half brother Sesshomaru, treats him like dirt. One day, when Sesshomaru is particularly annoyed with him, he sends Inuyasha to clean the old well house. Some rotted planks and a slick floor conspire to throw him down the well. Instead of hitting the ground and breaking his neck, he falls five hundred years into the past and learns what it truly means to be human when the only person who will stand up for him is a cat hanyou named Kagome.

* * *

**Chapter 1: Bad Dog**

Inutaisho Inuyasha gathered up his books and stuffed them into his backpack. His long, shaggy black hair whipped around behind him as he spun around in search of an errant homework paper. He grunted as he spotted it, only half finished, laying in the trash. He grabbed it and stuffed it in the top of his bag before zipping it closed and launching himself through the door of his room. He knew he was going to be late again.

"Have you eaten?" Sesshomaru barred Inuyasha's way before he could fly through the kitchen. Inuyasha put on the brakes and his sock clad feet slid out from under him on the meticulously polished hardwood floor.

"Damn it, Sesshomaru, I'm late." Inuyasha glared at his half brother. The pompous ass was everything he was not. Where Inuyasha's hair was a shaggy black, Sesshomaru's was a perfectly straight and pristine silver, almost white. Where Inuyasha's eyes were a deep, dark brown which was bordering on black, Sesshomaru's were a bright, clear, tawny gold. Where Inuyasha wore a dirty red t-shirt and torn black jeans, Sesshomaru wore pristine white priest's robes accented with a crystal blue. Where Sesshomaru had a straight A average and honors in school, Inuyasha was on the verge of flunking out. And, where Sesshomaru moved with the grace of royalty, Inuyasha was now rubbing his sore butt as he lay sprawled on the floor.

Sesshomaru raised an eyebrow with a disappointed sigh and turn of his head. "You will eat. If you do not, you will not have the energy to pay attention in class and your grades will fall even lower... If that is even possible."

Inuyasha stood, stomped over to the table, and grabbed a piece of toast off of Sesshomaru's own plate. He stuffed the entire piece into his mouth while glaring at Sesshomaru before stomping purposefully out of the house, slamming the door behind him. He swallowed the toast and began to walk across the shrine grounds towards the stairs that would lead him into the city.

The Inu no Taisho shrine was not a particularly large shrine, but it was nonetheless successful, though the success was probably just as attributable to the breeding of their prize-winning Samoyed dogs as to their donations. Sometimes, Inuyasha wondered if his family and the shrine had been named after the damned things and the story about the great dog lord made up later. He would have actually preferred if they only raised the dogs. He enjoyed getting down and dirty and wrestling with the brutish puff-balls. Taking care of the dogs was certainly better than leading around a bunch of snot-nosed brats on a superficial tour and telling them fairy tales about priests and demons and sacred relics. Inuyasha stopped by the kennels on the way to the gate and petting his favorite puppy. He was only half-surprised to see the neighborhood stray cat, who was known as Buyo to the people in the area, saunter into the kennel and begin drinking from the watering trough.

Inuyasha hopped onto the wall that kept the forest from creeping into the shrine and swung around the post of the entry arch. The wall was over a foot wide and surrounded the entire grounds of the shrine proper. It ran all the way down to the street at the bottom of the hill and Inuyasha though it a much more convenient path than the stairs that he would no doubt have to sweep a half dozen times this week. There were already some men and women climbing up the stairs on their way to offer prayers for some selfish thing or another while a small child raced past them, intent on visiting the doggies before ending up at school.

Inuyasha leapt from the short wall and onto the sidewalk at the bottom of the stairs, running towards the school. It wouldn't do to have his brother informed of him being late again. Last time, Sesshomaru had forced him to work on calligraphy for hours. He could now almost draw sutras to ward off evil in his sleep. They were even good enough to be included in the pule of charms that could be found in their little gift shop, right next to the paw-print t-shirts.

"Out of the way!" Inuyasha barreled through a group of rugged teenagers who had been loitering in a circle and blocking the sidewalk. In an almost miraculous show of clumsiness, the rag-tag group of misfits toppled over, each taking the next one down. Inuyasha didn't even slow. He planted a foot on the back of the first one he impacted and used him like a springboard to vault over the head of the boy opposite. The two slammed together in the middle with a mutual headbutt that resounded with a large crack as their friends toppled around them.

Inuyasha didn't even look back. He raced down the street, turned a few corners, and raced into the school yard. There were only a few stragglers still there. He burst through the double doors that lead inside and mounted the stairs by twos and threes. It wasn't long before he was racing along a corridor.

"Inutaisho Inuyasha?" the teacher asked, just as the door slammed open and Inuyasha slid into the classroom.

"Safe!" Inuyasha called, giving a mocking bow before strolling to his seat. The teacher sighed and marked him as present.

* * *

After several hours of napping, Inuyasha headed up to the roof with some curry bread from the cafeteria. Just as he settled back against the stairwell enclosure, looking out over the soccer field, a group of guys formed a circle around him, blocking his view.

"Out of the way!" Inuyasha said, trying to intimidate them with a growl.

"Did you hear that, my friends? He wants us to get out of the way!" one of the boys said with his voice pitched high with mock fear. The next thing Inuyasha knew, his arms had been grabbed and he had been slammed up against the chain link barrier enclosing the roof. "Can the great Inuyasha see now?" the mocking voice continued.

A fist slammed into Inuyasha's kidney. He held back a gasp of pain by biting his lip. Pressed up against the fence, his arms were useless. They didn't bend back far enough to latch on to any of the guys holding him and even if they could, with one person holding each, he'd never be able to overpower them. More blows struck him. Luckily, the fence gave a little and absorbed some of the force, but it still hurt a lot. He turned his head to the side and was rocked by a powerful blow to the jaw. At least now he could see one of them, and that one was close enough. He aimed a kick at his enemy's kneecap. The boy had been watching him and swung his leg back to avoid the side kick.

"You like it rough do you? Maybe you'd like–" He never finished his sentence.

Inuyasha hadn't intended to hit the leg. The kick he had hit with was much weaker, but much more effective. By dodging the knee kick as he had, the boy had spread his legs apart so Inuyasha's foot was situated cleanly between them. By turning at his hips, Inuyasha was at the right angle to raise his foot straight up into the unprotected groin. It was a dirty move, but then, so was a five on one fight. With no one holding that side steady, Inuyasha was able to roll with a punch to the back of the head, landing on his incapacitated opponent. He rolled out of the way as hands reached for him. One grabbed his leg but he kicked it away before rolling into a metal exhaust pipe and getting kicked in the gut.

After that, Inuyasha was completely out of the fight. He barely even felt the sensation of the blows after a numbing kick to his head. Eventually, the screeching of a safety whistle sent his group of attackers scattering and the annoying preppy bastard Hojo helped him to the nurses office while the physical education teacher tried to chase down the gang that had attacked him.

* * *

Inuyasha strolled into the shrine to see the angry scowl of his brother. Inuyasha had a black eye, several large bruises and a wad of gauze taped to his forehead to soak up blood from a laceration.

"This is the third time this week you've come home after I've received a call from your teachers. On Monday is was you tenth late this month. Yesterday, you claimed the dogs ate your homework. Now, today, you're getting into fights. Why must you be such a disappointment."

"It's not like that happened on purpose. School starts too damn early for me to get there on time when you always stop me before I can leave. The dogs really did eat my homework with that group of kids let them out of the kennel. And, they attacked me five against one, am I just supposed to let them toss me off the roof?" Inuyasha snapped at his brother. There was no reason he should have to defend his actions, especially not to Sesshomaru.

"Regardless of your pitiful excuses, you know you are responsible for your actions. I want the floor of the well house to look like new before you come in and do your homework, and then go to bed early so that you can wake up on time tomorrow. Inuyasha and Sesshomaru glared at each other for what seemed like an eternity.

"Feh. Whatever." Inuyasha wen over to the shed and grabbed a strong brush and a bucked of hot soapy water before disappearing into the dank, dark well house. It was a stupid chore. The well had long ago dried completely and been boarded up. Despite its rich name of 'The Bone Eater's Well', there was nothing special about it and it was kept closed off.

Inuyasha glanced across the room in the well house. There was dust and cobwebs everywhere. It looked like no one had entered the structure in years. With an irritated sigh, he plopped the bucked on the floor and got down on his hands and knees. He had to scrub hard to bring out the wood that was hidden under the grime. By the time he was finished the area by the entrance, he was already dirty, grimy and puffing from exertion. He knew that if Sesshomaru was here right now, he look at Inuyasha disdainfully and say, 'You're only done this much. You need more training.'

Even thinking about the pompous bastard pissed Inuyasha off. He stood up and stretched his tired muscles. Then, one foot slipped out from under him, sliding on the slickness of the wet and soapy floor boards. He windmilled his arms and tried to plant his foot firmly behind him. His foot hit nothing but air. His body jarred as his foot finally hit something solid. He had been standing next to the steps that went down to the well itself. He was still falling though, so he swung his other foot around to plant it into the dirt of the floor. He was now right next to the well. He stuck out an arm to arrest his movement by slamming it into the boards that covered up the well. The boards were too old and rotted through. His hand passed through like the wood had been a facade made of rice paper. His waist his the well wall and his body flipped over it, following his hand in a shower of splinters.

Inuyasha's first thought was that he was about to die. He was falling head first down an old dry well with nothing but solidly packed dirt at the bottom. It may have only been fifteen or twenty feet, but Inuyasha knew it was plenty to snap his neck or bash his brains in. He covered his head with his arms and shut his eyes, awaiting the inevitable impact. The impact didn't come, in fact, it felt like he was floating. He cracked an eye open to see what was happening. He didn't see much, except for a faint blue glow as his arms set down gently on the ground, which was quickly followed by the rest of his body as the strange suspension of gravity suddenly disappeared.

Inuyasha cursed under his breath at his misfortune. Looking up, he could see the wooden wall of the above ground portion of the well about six feet above him. From there, down to where he was standing, was a stone made of medium-sized stones mortared together and covered in moss.

"Sesshomaru!" Inuyasha called for his brother. After a few minutes of staring upwards, he called again. There was no response. It was then that he noticed that he could see the sky when he looked up. The well house had a roof, so seeing the sky should have been impossible. Inuyasha decided to take matters into his own hands.

The stones of the inner wall of the well were naturally shaped, so they stuck out enough that he could get good hand and toe holds. If the stones weren't enough, Inuyasha saw that there were some fairly dense vines growing as well. Using the stones and the vines, Inuyasha scaled the wall and climbed out of the well.

He was definitely no longer at the shrine. The well was sitting in the middle of a field which was surrounded with forest. He had no idea where it was, but the forest almost looked like the one that surrounded the wall of the shrine – as least the trees growing in it looked to be the same type.

"It'sss been a long time sssince any human hasss dared ssstray into my foressst." Inuyasha cringed at the sound of the voice. It seemed to almost click and slurred its 'S's as if its mouth was not made for human speech.

"And, where the hell is your stupid fore–" Inuyasha's jaw dropped when he turned and saw the creature towering behind him. The top half of it's body looked almost normal, at least as normal as a naked woman with a foot long tongue and six arms can look. The bottom half of its body was like a giant centipede, a long, segmented, insect carapace with hundreds of legs. If Inuyasha had to guess, from head to tail, the monster was thirty feet long. With one glance at the monster, Inuyasha did the only thing a sane human being could do, he turned and ran as fast as he could.

Inuyasha grunted with pain each time a foot hit the ground. His earlier beating was catching up with him quickly. It didn't help that he was also exhausted from working on the cleaning of the well house. By the time he reached the forest, he was already out of breath. He turned to face a random direction and continued running, hoping to outmaneuver the large creature. He didn't dare turn to look behind him, it was unnecessary anyway because he could hear every one of the centipede's legs crushing leaves and the crunches and scrapes as its body slammed against the forest's trees.

Inuyasha was suddenly at an impasse. A gigantic tree stood in his way. He recognized the tree because he saw it every day. It was the God Tree of the Inu no Taisho shrine. The momentary pause when he recognized the tree was plenty for the centipede to close the gap and slam into him. The massive bulk of the insect-like monster sent him flying into the sacred tree. His body crumpled against the hard wood and his skull bounced off the bark, changing the chances of the blows to his head causing a concussion from a likelihood to a certainty. He pulled himself up onto legs that seemed to wobble like jelly, using the tree for support. He turned to the smirking nightmare as it drove a hard, pointy leg through his gut and pinned him to the tree.

"Flesh flaying claws!" Inuyasha was covered in a river of blood and chunks of meat, then passed out.

* * *

Higurashi Kagome was a hanyou. The villagers made sure she knew she was a hanyou. The only reason the villagers did not slaughter her in her sleep was because her grandfather was the headsman of the village. It was not a normal village, as anyone who walked through could see, but a youkai village. Almost every villager was a demon of one sort or another, but mostly they were cats. Her grandfather was once the strongest of the neko tribe.

The neko tribe had been the natural enemies of the inu tribe back when the great dog lord Inutaisho had still been alive. Both her grandfather and Inutaisho had been gigantic beasts with unfathomable amounts of power. There had been instances when the entire landscape had changed because of battles between the two lords. Once Inutaisho had died without heirs, there had been nothing to stop the neko tribe from moving into the western lands. The result had been this small village.

Her grandfather had begotten one son before his mate had succumbed to the attack of a powerful miko. Her father had taken a different path and had found a human woman, Higurashi Nodaka, to be his mate. This had been frowned upon by the village. She had conceived two children, first a daughter, Kagome, then a son, Souta. One night, her father went out for a walk. He was found the next morning with his throat slit, and they had never found out who had killed him.

Ever since that night, the remaining members of the Higurashi family had been treated like trash by the rest of the village. There was no violence or slaughter against the human woman and the two hanyou children, but they were never made to feel welcome either. They knew that the only reason they remained alive was the fear the villagers still held for the elder Higurashi.

Due to the cold reception she received in the village, Kagome tended to spend a great deal of time in the forest. There, she could hunt for food and train her body by killing minor demons who would attack her on sight, thinking she was weak because of her mixed blood. Had she been the daughter of some random demon, they would probably have been right, but her father was the first born son of a daiyoukai. A demon lord's blood was bound to be strong, even two generations down and diluted with human blood.

Kagome's black fuzzy ears twitched on the top of her head. She heard a crashing sound in the forest that had become quite common. It seemed like she killed this demon every day, the mistress centipede. No matter how badly she tore the demon apart, the next day, it would be back whole and unharmed.

Kagome dashed towards the sound, her powerful legs throwing her forward at impressive speeds with strides that covered a dozen feet when she barely even exerted herself. It was like a graceful ballet, leaping from one footfall to the next while weaving through the trees, her long green skirt billowing out behind her like a flower. She also wore a white blouse and had a green scarf tied around her neck.

Kagome landed in the wake of the beasts path, the youkai's scent flooding her nostrils. There was another scent as well, a new scent. The new scent smelled like a human, and it was injured. Kagome couldn't stop to think about this. She raced off in the direction in which the scent became more potent. She knew where this path would lead, both through instinct and her knowledge of the layout of the land. The path was weaving and irregular, but the general direction was towards the sacred tree. No one really know what the powers of the tree were, but everyone agreed that the tree was powerful and that its destruction would not be a good thing.

"Flesh flaying claws!" Kagome called out her attack as she came into view of her target. Spreading her fingers wide, Kagome stretched out her retractable claws to their full length and filled them with the power of her youki. Her claws glowed yellow with the power and lengthened further. The claws cut not only into, but through the thick carapace and body, the unstable energies she had gathered in her fingers had exploded outward as she had swiped, cutting the body to ribbons and sending meat and blood raining down on the strange looking boy who was impaled on the tree.

Kagome couldn't be too sure, thanks to the large amount of blood, but the strange boy did not look too good. In addition to the leg through his chest, there were older bruises and scratches and some of them had already been bandaged, making Kagome certain that he had been injured before he had even met the Mistress Centipede.

"Are you going to be okay?" Kagome asked. She didn't even receive a groan from him. She quickly cut the boy's shirt and then cut and tied it into something that looked like it could be used for a good bandage. She pulled out the leg and blood began to spray like a fountain in time with his beating heart as his body dropped to the ground. With as much speed as she could, she wrapped the makeshift bandage around the wound, tightening it until the blood flow slowed. The boy did not have much time left before he would bleed out. Kagome picked him up bridal-style and ran as fast as she could to the village.

Kagome took him to the village shrine. Her grandfather was there training her brother in hopes that he would become strong enough to lead the neko tribe despite being only half demon.

"Who is that? Is he going to be okay?" Souta asked.

"He was attacked by Mistress Centipede. He is pretty badly injured," Kagome responded. She lay him on a futon kept for the sick and injured of the village.

"He's a human!" Souta exclaimed upon closer inspection. It was hard to tell since all the blood from the centipede demon masked his scent.

"Don't touch his wounds. He's more fragile than we are, Kagome warned as Souta went to try and peel back the bandage.

"What difference is it going to make? Even if you save him, the rest of the village will just eat him when they get the chance."

"Then I'll just have to protect him, won't I!" Kagome responded stubbornly.

"If he survives. He is not looking well," Kagome's grandfather said as he inspected the wounds, "We will see about letting you keep him if we can keep him alive. Go and get your mother. She will know more about dealing with human injuries than we do. I'll make a herbal poultice to help with the pain."

"Thanks, Grandpa!" Kagome gave her grandfather a quick bow of appreciation before running off in search of her mother.

The old demon lord looked through the healing supplies he had. They kept the supplies well stocked, but he knew that many of them were poisonous to humans.

"Hmm, wolfs bane? No, that won't do. Ah, catnip, that always makes me feel more lively. Maybe some basil and parsley." He hmmed and hawed as he rummaged the the bunches of herbs. Soon, he had a bundle of herbs that he thought would do nicely. "Souta, grab the mortar and pestle and grind these into a paste for me." He handed his grandson the twenty-six herbs he had gathered. Souta dutifully dropped them into the stone bowl as he grandfather watched.

"Grandpa, are you sure this will work?" Souta asked.

"Of course it will!" Grandpa Higurashi insisted, "I learned my herb lore from the greatest demon healers in the world two-hundred years ago. Why, there was a time when I was considered the greatest healer in the east. I could cure anyone of any disease or injury with just my knowledge of herbs. There was a clan member, I don't remember his name, who got an infection when a thorn stuck under his claw. No one else could get the swelling down." He noticed that the herbs were ground into a sufficiently homogenous paste. "Now just spread that on his wounds and he'll be better by tomorrow."

Souta started rubbing the paste all over the unconscious boy's body, making sure to apply it extra thickly wherever the skin was broken.

"Mom, he's in here," Kagome said, opening the door and leading the woman in.

Higurashi Nadoka was a very attractive woman for a middle-aged housewife, and it was easy to see how the great demon had been attracted to her in her prime. She held herself with purpose and grace as denoted her status, regardless of the lack of respect she received because of her humanity. Despite this, Mrs. Higurashi was a very kind woman and had raised Kagome to have a heart as kind as hers.

"That's my arm!" Inuyasha woke with a start and punched Souta in the face, knocking him to the ground. "What the hell do you think you're doing!" Inuyasha cradled his arm which now had a neat row of teeth marks adorning the inside of his forearm. After a second, he went pale then collapsed onto the futon, moaning in pain.

Souta was licking his lips hungrily and giggling, "You taste delicious."

"Souta, leave him alone!" Kagome ordered.

"Yes, dear, why don't you go out and play in the forest." Mrs. Higurashi's tone brooked no argument. Souta frowned, but headed out the door, breaking into a jubilant run. "And as for you, what exactly did you put in that goop?" She glared at her farther in law and he shrunk away.

"It's a herbal poultice. It will help him heal," the old cat tried to defend himself.

"Heal is it? Like that demon you helped to heal two months ago?"

"That was an accident. How was I supposed to know that those leaves were poisonous, they were in the anesthetic basket."

"Yes, but it was a local anesthetic that was meant to be applied on the surface of the skin, not ingested. Your remedies don't work. I told you to stick to bandaging wounds." Mrs. Higurashi sighed with exasperation. "Now let me see what you put in here." She picked up the bowl and smelled the contents. After a moment, she stuck her finger into the bowl and placed a dollop of the mush on her tongue. "Well, this won't kill him." Mrs. Higurashi sighed, "but it won't help him either."

"Will you be able to help him?" Kagome asked.

"Well that depends," Mrs Higurashi said, "By the looks of it," she gave the body a quick once over with her eyes, "the only injury that is of any concern is the hole in his stomach. If that pierced any organs, then he is as good as dead. If he was lucky, then if we can avoid infection, he should be up and about in a few days."

Kagome sighed in relief. "I don't smell gasses from his stomach and I don't hear any bubbles in his lungs, so I think that means nothing important was hit."

"Then, we should just wash his wounds and wrap them in clean bandages," Mrs. Higurashi said as she passed the supposed poultice to Grandfather Higurashi, "You can goo boil some water for us. While you're there, put this next to the stove and then pluck a couple chickens for dinner. I think that poultice of yours will make some delicious fried chicken." She turned to Kagome. "Go get a clean cloth and some fresh bandages while I take a closer look at your friend here."

"Okay, mom." Kagome and her grandfather went their separate ways to do their assigned tasks.

Mrs. Higurashi took a bottle of smelling salts from a drawer and wafted them under Inuyasha's nose. He grimaced, then groaned as he slowly regained his senses.

"Don't sit up. We don't want you to faint again."

Inuyasha replied with a grunt as he cracked his eyes open. Everything was blurry for a moment. He tried to blink this away, but it didn't seem to help. Even lying down, he felt tired and weak. He didn't recognize his surroundings.

"Where am I?" he asked, his words slightly slurred.

"You're in the western youkai village of the neko clan." Mrs. Higurashi calmly explained.

"Oh..." Inuyasha took a minute to process that before what she had said really sunk in. "Wait, what? Youkai?" It didn't make any sense.

"Don't worry about it for now. Out first priority is making sure you get better. You're in pretty rough shape. It looks like you were in bad shape even before Mistress Centipede got to you."

The events of the day flashed through Inuyasha's head. It all seemed too surreal to be true, but the pain in his gut told him otherwise. "How is this possible?" he asked, "Things like that don't exist!"

"I'm sorry, I don't understand. Things like what don't exist?"

"Things like giant, monster centipedes."

"That's not really that uncommon. You act like you've never seen a youkai before." Mrs. Higurashi said.

"That''s because I haven't seen one before," Inuyasha groaned, "Until I fell through that stupid well, things like youkai were just stories."

"You mean the sacred well in the forest?" Kagome asked as she returned and placed the fresh bandages next to the futon.

Inuyasha turned his head to look at Kagome. At first glance she looked like an average, attractive human female. She had long black hair and large brown eyes... with slitted pupils. Inuyasha did a double take, noticing things that were not quite right: her feline eyes; her sharp claws on her fingers and toes; the pointed fangs displayed in her smile; and instead of ears on the side of her head, there were to furry black triangles perched upright on the top of her head. Inuyasha stared for a moment, taking in everything he saw, then in a fit of what he would consider extraordinary courage on his part, he fainted.

* * *

Inuyasha woke up feeling an immediate need to use the washroom. He felt much better than he had the last time he had woken up. He lifted himself up on his elbows. His stomach flared in excruciating pain, but it wasn't enough to knock him out again but it was more than enough to make him cry out in pain. The strange cat-girl came into the room moments later.

"How are you feeling?" Kagome asked.

Inuyasha wasn't sure what to say to this creature. "Like someone shoved a big stick through me?" He finally answered, watching the girl warily for a few moments to see her response.

"You should be a lot better now. You've been asleep for days thanks to mom's medicines. We thought it would be best to let you wake up now though, you can't live forever on a liquid diet. Lunch will be ready in about an hour."

"Uh, okay," Inuyasha said, then he noticed the irked look on the girls face and added, "Thanks."

"You're welcome!" Kagome beamed, "I'm Higurashi Kagome, neko hanyou, granddaughter of the lord of the western lands. You can call me Kagome if you want."

"Hello," He reached out to shake her – Was it a hand or a paw? It didn't matter either way as his hand never reached it. He was not strong enough to hold himself up on only one elbow and dropped down onto straw. He had been sure he'd been on a lumpy futon before.

"Are you alright?" Kagome whipped back the blanket covering him.

Feeling the breeze the movement created, Inuyasha was suddenly acutely aware that he wasn't wearing anything other than the bandages that adorned his chest and arm. He reached out and grabbed the blanket, holding it so it could not drift down while Kagome examined his wound. He couldn't help but blush as she examined him, despite her not being human. It was embarrassing, and she and said she was a hanyou, which meant that since her mother was human, she was very likely human enough to... He rapidly looked away from her before he could get any ideas of allowing his eyes to stray while she was leaning over him.

"I don't see any blood, so you didn't reopen your wound. You need to be careful... What was your name?" She pulled the blanket back over him.

"Inutaisho Inuyasha," he replied, surprised by the squeak of surprise she emitted.

"You aren't related to THE Inu no Taisho, are you?" Kagome knew that after generation of interbreeding with humans, those who were part demon could lose their demonic blood and become humans.

"Not likely. My family owns the Inu No Taisho shrine in Tokyo. We've had it for generations. Somewhere along the line, someone must have thought it would be a good idea to name our family after it."

"You're a monk!"

Inuyasha could have sworn that she considered this worse than being related to a dog, the natural enemy of a cat. "So, what if I am?"

"You're not going to purify us are you?"

"Hell, no! What kind of asshole do you think I am? You saved my life, I'm not going to exorcise you for it!" Inuyasha wondered why she even bothered to save him if that's what she thought of him. "Like I could, anyway." He added under his breath. He barely even knew how to write sutras, and that was only because his brother forced him to make them to sell at the gift shop.

Kagome visibly relaxed. "So, is there anything you need?" She asked, the fearful tone completely gone.

"Where is the toilet?" he asked.

"Toy-let?" This word was new to Kagome.

"You know, the head, the water-closet, the wash-room, a place to take a piss?" Kagome's eyes widened and it was her turn to blush this time.

"I usually just find a private spot out in the forest..." she mumbled, "Give me a minute, I'll ask mom."

Inuyasha waited, and waited, until he felt that he would have to soil the straw, which he suspected was the reason he was no longer lying on a futon since he had been out for days. Then, Kagome came back in, carrying a brass cauldron. He looked at it, then at her, then at Mrs. Higurashi.

"You can't be serious..." Inuyasha glared at the pot. "Don't you at least have an outhouse?"

"Well, I suppose I could just let you dirty yourself, and let Kagome clean it up this time."

This really made Inuyasha blush. "Before, did she..."

"She fed you and changed your bandages," Mrs. Higurashi assured him.

Inuyasha sighed in relief. This whole thing was awkward enough without having had her ogling him while he slept.

"Kagome, I think he's going to need some help." She took the chamberpot from her daughter and stood behind Inuyasha.

Kagome stood astride him and hooked her elbows under his arm pits. Inuyasha clamped his hands down on the blanket just in time as Kagome, at some signal that Inuyasha didn't see from her mother, lifted him up off the ground long enough for her mother to slip the pot under him. Between the pain of his wounds as he was moved, and Kagome burying his face in her chest, he barely noticed the cold metal as he was seated.

After a minute of silence, Mrs. Higurashi said, "Kagome, perhaps he would feel more comfortable if you waited outside." Kagome didn't wait for a second offer. She was blushing as furiously as Inuyasha was. As soon as her mother's hands were supporting Inuyasha's back so he wouldn't topple off his perch, she quickly walked out and stood outside the door.

"Thanks," he said. He could already feel the death grip his embarrassment had on his urethra loosening.

"Do you really feel that uncomfortable around her?" Mrs. Higurashi asked.

"Anyone would feel that way," he replied. If he had not been embarrassed, he would have thought himself some sort of creepy sex fiend.

"You know, there aren't many people who treat her well. It's only because of her grandfather that we are even allowed to stay in the village. Are you going to ignore her and hate her like the rest of the village? Just because she is a hanyou?"

"That's not the reason. She would actually be really popular where I come from. There are a lot of guys who think girls with cat ears... We have a form of entertainment. It's moving pictures on a screen that tell stories. Cat girls are very popular characters."

"So, you've never grown up knowing the stigma of half bloods? You don't dislike her just because she's different?"

Inuyasha's only response was a non-committal grunt. Suddenly, Mrs. Higurashi's hand moved and repositioned itself over his wound. All thoughts of embarrassment left his head and his bladder released.

"I'm sorry. I didn't hear that." Her voice sounded happy, but it made Inuyasha nervous.

"I don't dislike Kagome!" he hissed.

Outside Kagome's claws dug into the walls. It hadn't exactly been a confession, but it made Kagome feel kind of warm and tingly inside.

"But if you don't get your hand out of my wound, I'm going to start disliking you," Inuyasha growled.

"My, my. How clumsy of me," Mrs. Higurashi said with a carefree laugh, "Kagome I think he's finished."

Kagome came back in and helped him back down onto the straw. Her mother put a cover on the chamberpot and put it in the corner in case it was needed again. "Mom, can we keep him, even after he's better?"

"We can't force him to stay if he really doesn't want to," Mrs. Higurashi replied.

"Please, mom. It would be nice to have someone my own age who will talk to me. All I have are you, Souta and Grandpa."

Inuyasha could feel the loneliness in her voice. He knew what it was like to feel lonely, he had always been an outcast because of his delinquent ways, but there had always been other kids his age to talk with and hang out with. He thought back to the beating he had taken the day he'd come here. From what he had heard so far, that was probably the treatment she got every day, and despite there most likely being others close enough to her age that she could relate to them, he could only guess that they were the ones doing the beatings, or worse, ignoring her.

"You'll have to take care of him."

"I will. I'll feed him, and walk him, and pet him, and..."

"What am I? A dog?" Inuyasha growled belligerently, interrupting Kagome.

Kagome placed a hand on his head and ruffled his hair, "That's what your name says."

Inuyasha growled and crossed his arms over his chest, glaring at Kagome. The gesture wasn't quite as intimidating as it should have been, making him seem more sulky and petulant than angry. He certainly wasn't going to say that he liked having Kagome pet him.

"I meant taking care of him in the sense of protecting him from villagers who want to eat him. He is not blood related to your grandfather yet, so it will be dangerous if he tries to leave on his own, and maybe more so if he leaves with one of us." The conversation flagged for a minute, then Mrs Higurashi said, "I should go check on lunch."

* * *

Once he was able to move, with support from Kagome and Souta, Inuyasha was moved into the room where Kagome, Souta and their mother stayed. Inuyasha was laid on a futon between Kagome and Souta with the intention that, should any demon decide to break in and eat him they would be the first to awaken and be able to protect him. He didn't really believe them about the demons anymore. He hadn't seen anyone except their family since he had come here. They claimed that their grandfather was a great demon lord, but to Inuyasha, he just looked like a normal old man. This persistent thought kept him awake at night, staring at the back of Kagome's head. He could see the ears taunting him there, twitching occasionally at some sound he couldn't hear.

Soon, the ears were just too much of a temptation; he had to touch them. He reached out, careful not to make any noise, and ran his thumb along the silky blackness on the edge of her ear. He could barely believe how soft the fur was. When his thumb neared the tip, the ear twitched violently, as if trying to shoo away a fly that landed on it. He grinned mischievously at the sight, then touched the fur near the tip of her ear and she did it again, then began to stir. Inuyasha, thinking she might have woken up, froze and held his breath.

Kagome continued to shift for a minute, then rolled over towards Inuyasha. She was right next to him now, her head resting on his shoulder, pinning the arm he had been teasing her ears with. Her warm breath blew rhythmically across his chest, every puff heating him up as his cheeks flushed. Of course, right next to his nose were those triangular temptations. He turned his head the other way and made sure Souta was still sleeping, then turned back to Kagome. He reached up with his free hand and captured the enticing appendage, gently rubbing it between his fingers. Kagome began to tremble against him. Thinking he was hurting her, Inuyasha was about to stop when he heard a low rumbling coming from her. He moved his fingers a little and continued rubbing, and the rumbling got louder. Kagome was purring. This made him chuckle a bit.

Her eyes shot open and Inuyasha froze. Then, like a hammer from the heavens, Kagome's hand came down and slapped him with enough force to knock him out for the rest of the night.

* * *

Inuyasha woke up late the next morning. Everyone else had left, but he now had a large poultice on his face where his jaw had swollen up. It actually hurt more than his stomach at the moment, but despite that, he felt the pain was worth it to see Kagome purr because he was playing with her ears. He sat himself up and, with the help of a wall, got onto his feet. He walked along the wall, until he reached a window that looked out into the street. Any doubts he had about the demonic nature of the villagers disappeared. He could see not most of them were cats, not just having cat ears and claws but full blown , six foot tall, cats in armor who carried swords. There were other demons as well. One looked like some sort of lizard, another he couldn't even compare to any animal he knew of. None looked as friendly as Kagome and her family.

Looking around, he saw that there was a desk with brushes, quills, ink, and some blank paper. So, Inuyasha did what came naturally to a boy with some training as a monk. He made sutras. He made sutras for warding off evil, sutras for protection from harm, and any others he could remember. He got so into the sutra making that he almost made a charm for love, but half way through he managed to switch it to a charm for a peaceful life. By the time he was done, he was completely exhausted. He went back to his futon and lay down. Since he couldn't help his feeling of nervousness, he laid some of the sutras in a ring under the edge of the mattress to protect him from any unwanted intruders.

It seemed like he had only closed his eyes for a second when he heard a yelp of pain and opened his eyes to see an angry looking Kagome. The tips of her claws were smoking. Before he could say anything, she drew back her arms and extended her claws. He cringed as he thought she was going to slice him to ribbons, but an invisible barrier sprung to life around him, emitting sparks for a few moments before shattering. A ring of smoke puffed out from under the edge of the futon and when Inuyasha pulled out one of the sutras, he found it had blackened into a fragile sheet of charcoal.

"I-nu-ya-sha!"

Inuyasha swallowed hard as he looked back at Kagome. Her claws extended, her eyes glowed red, and it seemed as if dark energy was rolling off of her in menacing waves.

"Umm... Good morning," he said nervously, a bead of sweat trickling down the side of his face.

Kagome grabbed him by the neck and slammed him into the wall. "What exactly do you think you were doing?" she asked, her eyes glaring directly into his mere inches away from his face.

"What? I was here alone, and there are demons everywhere outside. Did you expect me to just lie there and get eaten?"

"Do you really not trust me that much after everything I've done for you?"

"Well last night, you knocked me out, and now you're getting ready to eviscerate me."

"Inu-baka!" Kagome yelled into his face before dropping him, "You just disappeared. I couldn't smell you anymore and I knew you couldn't leave on your own. What was I supposed to think?"

Inuyasha held his injury and winced. "What do you mean, smell me? I didn't do anything about that."

"Your barrier purified the air, it was like you just disappeared. I thought some demon had taken you or something."

"Feh." He said, looking away guiltily.

"Are you okay?" Kagome asked, noticing he was holding his stomach.

"It's nothing," he replied.

"Let me see," she ordered. Using her superior strength, she pulled his hands away and saw blood soaking the white kosode that Inuyasha had been given since his shirt had been ruined. "You call this nothing? Your wound has reopened!"

"And, whose fault is that?" Inuyasha growled, upset at being manhandled as if he were only a child.

"Just shut up and lie down. I'm going to get mom and some new bandages."

"Feh," Inuyasha grunted, but allowed himself to be helped back into bed.

Kagome left but returned soon with her mother and a bowl of something sticky and gooey that her mother had her spread over the wound before wrapping it in fresh bandages.

* * *

"Inuyasha! I got you a present."

Inuyasha did not like the look of her smile. It was the kind of smile that strangers offering candy to lure away children would give. He backed up a step nervously.

"Don't be so afraid. It's a good thing." Kagome brought a hinged box out from behind her back.

"What is it?" he asked.

Kagome opened the box to reveal a strange necklace. It was made of large round dark beads interspersed with pale magatama beads that resembled large teeth or claws. It actually looked kind of cool, like a hunter who strings the teeth of prey around their neck. Too late did he notice the dark youki gathering around the beads. One by one they flew off and took position around his neck.

"It's a collar," Kagome's smile grew wider, "so now, everyone will know you belong to me."

Inuyasha grabbed his new 'collar' and pulled, but an invisible force kept the beads from passing over his head and the force holding the beads together was too strong for him to break.

"Take it off!" Inuyasha yelled, pulling with no effect, "I am not a dog!"

"That's not what your name says, and now, you're my dog. This collar will allow me to help you learn how to behave, since you probably wouldn't survive me teaching you with my claws."

Inuyasha leapt at her angrily. She didn't even try to dodge.

"Sit boy!" Inuyasha's leap halted and he found himself slammed face first into the floor. "It works good right?" Kagome asked.

Inuyasha responded with a groan.

"Now, get up. It's time you got some fresh air, and a proper bath."

Inuyasha pulled himself to his feet and stumbled forward a few paces. Cute or not, this woman was definitely a demon, and not just in blood. He sniffed himself selfconsciously. He had to admit that he didn't smell that great, but there wasn't much he could do about that since this place didn't seem to have deodorant. He knew that if he ever went back home, that was one thing that he'd need to bring back.

"Don't look anyone in the eye. If they think you're challenging them, they won't go easy on you," Kagome told him as he followed her out the door, keeping one hand on her to help steady himself.

Inuyasha looked around. The village mostly consisted of huts rather than proper buildings. The shrine he had been living in was by far the largest and most ornate building. Turning to look ahead, he caught the eye of a large cat with tattered fur. It looked like he'd been through many battles, many of which he hadn't won. The cat stared back at him and Inuyasha glared at him out of reflex. It was the wrong move. The cat put his hand on the pommel of his sword and swaggered over to him, ignoring Kagome.

"Just what do you think you're looking at?" The cat leaned forward, trying to intimidate Inuyasha.

Inuyasha placed two fingers into the pocket of his jeans. There was a small group of sutras there in case of an emergency. "I was just wondering how ugly your mother must have been to give birth to something like you." He was just about to pull a sutra from his pocket when he heard the word spoken.

"Inuyasha, sit boy!" The ugly cat's attempted punch missed Inuyasha's head as it was instead slammed into the ground. "Sorry about that," Kagome apologized, bowing respectfully, "I am still working on training him. He's a bad dog, but I am trying to train him right."

"Well, maybe you should train him to keep his mouth shut."

"Of course. Thank you," Kagome bowed again, grabbed Inuyasha by the back of his kosode and dragged him into the forest.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: The Sacred Jewel**

* * *

"You should listen when I tell you to do something," Kagome scolded Inuyasha as she dumped him unceremoniously on the ground by the edge of a river.

"It's not my fault that stupid cat had a bad attitude. If you hadn't sat me, I could have taken him," Inuyasha replied insolently, "Didn't you notice that I was about to get him with a sutra?"

"Think about this, you stupid dog," Kagome hissed angrily in a voice quiet with veiled anger, "Your sutras could not stop me. I am only a half demon. Half demon means half power. Tonkatsu is not only a full demon, but the strongest in the village after my grandfather."

"I still think I could have taken him," Inuyasha grumbled, flinching when he saw Kagome's claws extending, "So, where is the bathhouse?" Inuyasha stood up and began brushing the dirt from his clothes.

The next thing he knew, he was above the large tranquil basin that occurred right below a waterfall, tumbling into the center of the pool. The water wasn't as tranquil as it looked. As soon as Inuyasha hit the water, he felt it pulling him along. His hands and feet scrabbled for purchase on the smooth water-worn rocks lining the bottom of the basin. Any rocks that were not perfectly smooth seemed to grow some sort of algae that made them too slippery to find purchase upon or came off in clumps like moss.

When it seemed he could hold his breath no longer, an eddy pushed Inuyasha out of the main current. His feet hit the stones and he pushed himself up and out of the water, gasping for for breath.

"What the hell you laughing at?" Inuyasha yelled, noticing the smirk that now graced Kagome's face.

* * *

Inuyasha stared forlornly out the window. He wasn't allowed to go outside alone and there wasn't anything to do inside. Inuyasha had thought about asking Kagome to take him home, but he couldn't think of a believable excuse to keep Sesshomaru off his back after being away for a couple weeks. His wounds were all but healed and he was beginning to get antsy.

"What's wrong little doggy?"

Inuyasha silently swore that he'd kill the brat. Kagome's brother had been nothing but a nuisance. Souta always wanted to play silly little games that always ended with Inuyasha getting injured. Any games Inuyasha could think of required special balls or other equipment. He had learned quickly that even as a small child, Souta's strength already exceeded his own by at least double so wrestling and other roughhousing were much to dangerous since he had not let learned to completely control his strength.

"I'm thinking of chasing a cat. There doesn't seem to be much else to do around here. NO cars to chase, no bone to chew on, no arumph-" Inuyasha was cut off as a large hunk of bone was shoved into his mouth. The worst part about Souta was that he didn't know what sarcasm was, or chose to pretend he didn't. Inuyasha turned away from the window. He took the bone out of his mouth. It was a big one, at least four feet long. "Yes, chasing and clobbering an annoying cat is definitely on my to do list," Inuyasha growled as he wielded the bone as a mace. Inuyasha swung the bone at Souta, only to be dodged at the last second.

"You missed me!" Souta laughed as he ducked and leapt to avoid the wild swings of the bone.

The two raced through the shrine, Souta leading Inuyasha on a grueling chase. Souta used the furniture to his advantage. He would leap over rugs on polished wood floors, sending Inuyasha sliding into walls. He would flip up tatami panels, knocking Inuyasha over or tripping him up. He would jump over chairs and slide under tables, making Inuyasha run into them. Souta ducked behind an urn. Inuyasha's wild swing shattered the large clay vessel, sending a gray powder flying. Souta inhaled the powder and began to cough, covering his nose with his hands.

"I've got you now, brat!"

Before Inuyasha could bring the club down on the incapacitated Souta he heard Kagome's pissed off voice shout, "Sit boy!" Inuyasha fell face first onto the floor next to Souta. "Look what you've done. The entire shrine is a mess! Just who do you think is going to clean this up?"

Inuyasha pointed at Souta who in turn pointed at Inuyasha.

"What's going on in here?" Kagome's grandfather entered the room. His face darkened as he surveyed the destroyed vessel. "Who's responsible for this?"

Both Souta and Inuyasha pointed at each other again, glancing back and forth as if to discern whether Kagome or her grandfather were the bigger threat.

"Do you even know what was in that urn? Those are the ashes of the dai youkai Toramaru who conquered all the lands five hundred years ago. He was the greatest of all cat demons. That jar was the only thing sealing his spirit!"

"So, he's dead. What's he going to do? Haunt us?" Inuyasha asked skeptically. He rose himself into a sitting position and crossed his legs."

"If we're lucky, that is all he'll do," Grandpa said, leaning in until he was nose to nose with Inuyasha. He pulled back suddenly and turned to Kagome. "I'm going to need to bring in some powerful mikos and monks to reseal his spirit. The villagers are going to be in an uproar over this and the that much spiritual power could cause havoc if a fight were to break out. Inuyasha won't do anything but hinder my efforts and he'll probably just end up breaking more things and creating more work for me."

"Grandpa, you promised I could keep him!" Kagome whined childishly.

"But I never promised to let you keep him here. I don't care where you go, but keep him out of the village until he learns to behave. I'll take care of Souta." Souta shivered at his grandfather's words.

* * *

Inuyasha couldn't believe the size of pack that he was being forced to carry. It was probably as big as he was and in an annoyingly unmanly yellow color. Inuyasha had been lugging the thrice-dammed thing for over twenty minutes and they were still not even at the forest line. The air was heavy with an oppressive aura as the demons all seemed to stare at him as if he were a snack or a fly buzzing around their nose. He groaned loudly as he painfully shifted the pack of supplies.

"Stop acting like an invalid. You've had plenty of time to heal. Pick up the pace!" Kagome ordered.

Inuyasha's eyebrow twitched in irritation. She had been bugging him every step he took. He tried to ignore her, focusing instead on taking another painful step forward.

"I'm waiting. Don't make me s-i-t you."

He had had enough. He dropped the pack on the ground. His speed increased dramatically. "If you think it's so damn easy, then you carry everything!" Inuyasha yelled and stormed past her. His out burst had turned even more eyes towards them.

"That 'everything' is the stuff you will need to survive in the wilderness. I on the other hand can survive just fine with only my claws." Kagome''s voice was low and hissing with menace.

"Then you'll just have to survive for the both of us!" Inuyasha yelled stubbornly back at her, ignoring the threat in her voice and stomping towards the trees.

"I-nu-ya-sha," the boy barely had time to turn his head towards her before she yelled, "SIT!"

Inuyasha braced himself against the pull. It only made things worse. Fighting the necklace meant that it needed to pull harder, and as a consequence slammed him into the ground even more force.

"Sit! Sit! SIT!"

Inuyasha was surprised, painfully so. Kagome had never used successive sits before. Despite already being already firmly planted against the ground, the repeated command caused the necklace to pull suddenly harder, straining his neck and pushing his face deeper into the soil. He could imagine her saying it over and over again, each command getting stronger and stronger until the necklace pulled so strongly that it would decapitate him. It was an ironic thought considering that she had put it on him so that she could punish him without injuring him too severely.

The next thing he knew, Kagome had grabbed him by the back of his collar and was dragging him along. Dragging was a relative term, to him it seemed like he was a a banner, flapping in the breeze as she leapt through the air. Then, he was roughly dumped onto the ground and the heavy, yellow weight that Kagome had called survival gear had been dropped on top of him.

"Why can't you just do as I tell you? Things would be so much easier if you would just listen."

Inuyasha could barely groan in response. The bag was making it very difficult to breathe on top of his other injuries.

"Is that all you have to say for yourself?" Kagome stopped for a moment, looking at him strangely, the anger seeming to melt away in an instant, "Are you okay? You're turning red..."

Inuyasha let out another strangled gasp and winced. The weight had shifted and now some lump was directing it all into the wound he had received. Then the weight was gone and he managed to completely fill his lungs with air.

"Keh, you're the one who should have listened to me," Inuyasha grumbled.

"Inuyasha, si-" Kagome stopped herself this time, "What do you mean by that?"

"'Stop acting like an invalid', 'you've had plenty of time to heal'... Being a human is not something you recover from."

"Then why didn't you say something?" Kagome asked.

"Because you would have sat me if I did!" Inuyasha responded angrily. His energy was returning as he regained his breath.

"I wouldn't sit you for something like that!" Kagome shouted back, ruining what little recovery he had made when she accidentally sat him again. "Oh, sorry about that. I didn't mean..."

"Feh," Inuyasha grunted and satisfied himself to just lay on the ground. Now he took the time to look around, he recognized this place. They were next to the sacred tree. The goshinboku towered above him, its branches spreading out like a massive tent that covered the sky. A few meters up the trunk was a scar in the bark, surrounded by the ruddy brown of congealed blood. He almost flinched at the sight as he remembered the attack.

"Well, we should probably set up for the night. It doesn't look like you're going to be getting up any time soon," Kagome said, attempting to cheerfully redirect the conversation in a direction that did not include her tendency to accidentally injure Inuyasha.

* * *

Inuyasha relaxed next to the fire. Ir was a warm night, so Inuyasha lay nestled between the roots of the goshinboku. Up above him, Kagome lay on a branch, propped up against the trunk above him. Most of the time, he couldn't see her, but every so often there would be a rustling or scratching sound and a pale hand or foot would appear. On one occasion, she brought her head into view, resting in the crook of her arm. Inuyasha almost had to stifle a chuckle as he noticed that even a female cat demon could look like a drooling moron when they were asleep.

The fire let loose a shower of sparks with a sudden pop that made Inuyasha almost leap into the air. The flare of the fire lit up Kagome's face and Inuyasha saw the incandescent silver glow of light reflecting off of her feline eyes. Things seemed to move in slow motion as he noticed things were not right. The crackling of the fire sounded more like the rustling of leaves. The cracks and pops of sparks sounded like the a clicking as if hard objects were rapidly grinding and slamming into each other. Then, Kagome's face was gone from his vision. He didn't even have time so see her move before he heard the call of her attack and a rain of blood fell upon him. He thought he was going to be sick.

"Are you okay?" Kagome asked.

Inuyasha plucked what seemed to be a section of a small intestine from his hair and grimaced. He didn't even want to think about the inner juices that now covered his long luxurious hair. "I need a bath," he finally responded.

"Well, we are near the river."

Inuyasha almost jumped out of his skin and screamed in surprise. The piece of intestine had leapt from his hand and flew towards a mass of flesh that glowed with a dark and malevolent light. It fused with other pieces of self-propelled meat, forming first into a glob, and then into a claw hovering over Kagome. He didn't stop to think, instead he rolled up onto the balls of his feet and tackled Kagome just as she noticed the danger that was approaching.

The two landed in a heap at the base of the towering centipede demon. Inuyasha had knocked the wind out of himself and lay sprawled on top of Kagome. She reached under his arms and pulled him face first into her bosom as she leapt away. Moments later, the bulk of the centipede's body thundered to the ground where they had been.

Kagome leapt into the goshinboku. She knew that if any tree in the area would survive the battle, it would be this one. When she was sure that she was higher up than the centipede's body, she dropped Inuyasha onto a forked branch, leaning against the trunk.

For half a moment, Inuyasha thought he was safe, or at least as safe as one could be perched precariously at what seemed to be a hundred meters above the ground. Then the tree shook violently. Mistress Centipede had wrapped her body around the trunk of the tree and was rapidly spiraling up by using her many legs to dig powerfully into the bark. Inuyasha held on with all his might to prevent himself from being thrown down to his death.

Kagome dropped from high above, plummeting headfirst towards the demon and accelerating to deadly speeds.

"Kagome!" Inuyasha let go of the branch and dived as if to catch her. He was much too late and she was down far past him before he could stretch out his arm. Another particularly violent sent him tumbling down after her. She was already half the distance the the bottom. Inuyasha watched entranced as her body seemed to twist impossibly in the air, returning her to an upright position.

"Flesh flaying claws!" Kagome called out her attack as she focused the youki into her claws, sharpening and extending them. She lanced the tips into the bark of the tree just above the topmost coil of the demon centipede's body. Moving at terminal velocity, her claws sliced through the carapace like a chainsaw through melted butter. Ribbons of flesh streaked out from the shredded segment of the chilopod and curved over Kagome in bloody arcs like a perverse fountain.

It was strange for Inuyasha to see the creature ripped apart. He felt no remorse for its pain. Intelligent or not, it was a monster trying to kill him. Nor did he feel fear from plummeting towards what would almost certainly be his death. What he felt was relieved because, for once, he was not the one covered in blood and guts. It simply was not normal to be covered in blood and guts on more than one occasion per week – most likely less for people who did not get into fights as often as he did. Then the fear set in. The reality of his falling to certain death overcame his odd sense of relief. He could see shreds of jagged chitin from the creature's exoskeleton which were bent back at odd angles as if purposefully aimed to impale him through his vulnerable innards.

"Kagome!" Inuyasha cried out, hoping that she would catch him before he met an untimely death. She looked up at him and tried to kick off the tree and come to his aid, but her claws had become entrenched in the tree when she had shredded the demon. He expected that this was the end for him. Biting his lip to hold back an unmanly scream of fear, he shut his eyes and waited, hoping he could at least take his end like a man. Fortunately for Inuyasha fate had other plans for him. Sic hands grabbed onto him from behind, grasping him with inhuman strength.

"You're mine human. That filthssy halfbreed can't sssave you." The demon's arms drew Inuyasha to the pseudo-human torso that topped what remained of her body.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome finally pulled a hand free from the tree but there was nowhere near enough time for her to come to his rescue.

Inuyasha had no intention of dying from a centipede pile-driver. He surged forward with all of his might, getting as much range as he could before slamming back and ramming the back of his head into the demon's nose. Mistress Centipede cried out and her hands released him for a moment. Using her arms as leverage, Inuyasha pushed himself upward. Mistress Centipede slammed head first into the remains of the rest of her body which was slowly knitting itself back together. Inuyasha landed with her, bouncing off of Mistress Centipede's chest and into Kagome's arms.

"Are you okay?" Kagome asked, leaping back from the demon and carrying Inuyasha bridal style in her arms.

"I think she got the worst of it," Inuyasha muttered. The demon had taken most of the impact itself and pushing up at the last moment had slowed him down. It also helped that the body segments the demon had landed on had flattened under her weight, cushioning the fall even further. However, that didn't mean that it didn't hurt like hell. His entire body had been jarred. He glanced over at Mistress Centipede. His vision was blurry but slowly clearing. "The third segment. That's what's healing her," he said, "There's an evil light on the right side."

"I don't see anything," Kagome replied, squinting as if it would materialize some previously hidden object.

"Just trust me. If you want her to die, take out her third segment!"

Kagome placed Inuyasha on the ground and ran at the centipede. It was no match for her speed and her claws cut through the body over and over, sending chunks flying.

"There!" The chunk with the light flew out. Inuyasha staggered to his feet and leapt for the flying meat. He pounced on the still-moving flesh and dug his fingers into it, tearing it open until he saw it clearly.

"No! Leave that alone!" Mistress Centipede barreled towards Inuyasha, ignoring the many wounds Kagome was inflicting.

Inuyasha tried to reach in to grab the glowing object, but when he released the side of the torn open flesh, it would seal around the object.

"Don't you dare touch that!" Mistress Centipede's hands clawed at the ground. Kagome had her by the tail and the centipede could only move forward a few inched at a time.

Inuyasha tore open the flesh once more, then buried his face in the foul smelling flesh. He sunk his teeth into the flesh around the glowing sphere, spilling the revolting bug juices into his mouth. He gagged at the taste, continuing only because he knew his life was at stake. His teeth clamped against the hard, smooth surface. Strings of flesh clung to the sphere as he pulled with all of his might, fearing his teeth would fly out of his mouth before he could free the damned object. A hand grasped hi hair and yanked him into the grip of the centipede just as the last tendon snapped and the little sphere went flying a few feet away.

"No!" the demon screamed as her skin turned ashen. The centipede's body crumbled, rotting at an unbelievable rate until nothing remained.

Kagome stumbled then fell to the ground as the resistance disappeared. "Well, that was more difficult than I expected," she sighed, breathing a little heavily, "Usually such low class demons would not even be a challenge for me."

Following the dark violet light, Inuyasha scrambled around and found a large spherical jewel. "I think this was what made it so difficult he said.

"I don't like how it feels. It seems too dark," Kagome pointed out, having maneuvred to peer over his shoulder.

Inuyasha reached out to pick up the iridescent jewel. It felt evil to him as well, but when his finger touched it, the jewel blazed with a pure pink aura instead.

"You purified it!" Kagome exclaimed, "Most humans couldn't touch such high levels of youki without being corrupted."

"All I did was pick it up. Not like I did anything special to it," Inuyasha shrugged.

"If you purified it without even trying, then you must have amazing spiritual powers. I've only ever heard of one other person whose spiritual powers could rival that."

"Of course I have awesome spiritual powers. I'm just that awesome."

Kagome sighed, "You have no idea how to use them do you?"

"It's not like I have ever needed to before. I'm sure I'll get the hang of it pretty quickly," Inuyasha assured her confidently.

"I guess that settles it then."

"Settles what?" Inuyasha asked.

"You're an idiot," Kagome said matter-of-factly, "There had to be a downside somewhere. A human without prejudice against half-demons, relatively good at fighting – for a human – and not to mention your strong spiritual powers and being attractive with really nice hair. Even with all that going for you, you don't have the brains to use what you've got."

"Just because I haven't been trained in something doesn't mean I am an idiot. If you suddenly found you had spiritual powers, you wouldn't know how to use them either," Inuyasha said defensively.

"The difference is, I'd have figured out that I had spiritual powers."

"My world isn't full of demons. Spiritual powers are pretty much useless there."

"You should have still used your powers to heal the sick and injured villager."

"That's what the doctors and hospitals are for. If I tried that, I'd probably arrested for practicing medicine without a license. I eat, sleep, do chores, and go to school."

"What is skool?" Kagome asked.

"And you call me an idiot," Inuyasha sighed.

"Whatever. Either way, we should see what my grandfather has to say about this jewel. Until then, you can hang onto it, but keep it out of sight. I don't know what it is, but it seems powerful."

"You think more demons are going to take this from us?"

* * *

Inuyasha returned to the demon village with the jewel stuffed into his pocket and Kagome on his heels, watchful for any aggressive intentions on the part of the villagers. The demons glanced towards them warily, most giving them unwelcome glares and uttering unflattering comments about the 'human-loving whore' being as bad as her father.

"What's wrong with them? Humans aren't that bad. We're not the most loveable things on the face of the earth, but they shouldn't be glaring at me like I just took a crap on their lawn," Inuyasha grunted irritably, trying to avoid glaring back at the unfriendly welcome they were receiving from the demons of the village.

"They're not glaring at you. I am the one they're looking at. They don't see you as anything more than an odd pet at best. I will even bet that half of them have tried out a human or two to satisfy their lust or hunger."

"Then what's their problem? Did I do something to insult the entire village? I would think I would notice doing something like that."

"They're glaring at me, not you. My brother and I are the shame of the village. We're half-breeds. We aren't welcomed in demon or human villages," Kagome explained.

"They must be idiots then – especially the humans. They don't have heavy machinery or guns do they? If there are a lot of creatures like Mistress Centipede out there, then you could protect them."

"Maybe if I was a kitsune or a inu, that might be true, but neko demons are flesh eaters. We're not even cute like the twin-tails."

"So, humans are blind as well as stupid," Inuyasha sighed. His race sounded like complete asses when he looked at them from Kagome's perspective.

"Not all of them. Usually there's a few who would accept me and my brother and mother. A few isn't enough when a mob comes to hack you into little pieces."

"So humans think you're a demon and are afraid of you and do stupid things instead of getting to know you. That shouldn't stop you from getting along with other demons."

"Demon's will follow whoever is the strongest. Humans are weaker than demons, therefore half-demons must be weaker than demons. At least that's the way most demons look at a hanyou. A lot of the time, they won't even take one of us seriously in a fight, which leads to a lot of dead demons. Demons will usually mate with the strongest woman they can find so that their bloodline won't become weak. They'll take weaker demons and humans as concubines, but will usually kill them if they become with child to protect their pride. To let a hanyou even be born is seen as an insult not only to the demon and their ancestors but to all demons."

"So why don't all the half demons come together and make their own village instead of hanging out with idiots who want to kill them?"

"Great idea! Gather us all into one place so they can kill us faster."

"Oh... So you're really screwed no matter what," Inuyasha said, "If things are so bad, why are you still living with all these demons?"

"I'm one of the lucky ones. My father and grandfather are daiyoukai. As the lord of the western lands, no one would consider harming him or his family, at least not openly. Most other half demons either look human enough that they can hide in human villages or live alone in the forest. Of those, only the strongest ever live very long."

Inuyasha walked ahead of Kagome. After their conversation, they had lapsed into an awkward silence. There really wasn't anything a person could say after that. He slid the door open with his foot and walked inside.

"We had better talk to Grandpa about it," Kagome said. It was best not to let things like this go for too long. Inuyasha grunted in assent and headed into the shrine to look for the old man.

* * *

Grandpa Higurashi was meditating by the sacred flame of the temple. Or at least that was what Inuyasha thought when he saw the man sitting serenely in the path of the thick grey smoke billowing out of the altar.

Kagome smacked her grandfather on the back of the head and yelled, "What kind of example are you setting for Souta when you do irresponsible things like this?"

Then Inuyasha noticed the bowl of crushed, dried leaves.

"Kagome, can't you afford an old man some comforts in his golden years?"

"Not when you're abusing catnip. Something happened, and we need your mind sharp."

The old man sighed and turned to face them. "What is so important?"

"Mistress centipede came back to life again. We put her down for good this time and found what was healing her," Kagome explained.

"Well, I presume you brought it with you, so lets see it."

Inuyasha withdrew the crystal orb from his pocket. It still shone with the bright pink aura it had when Inuyasha had first purified it of Mistress Centipede's taint.

"Boy, bring that here!" Inuyasha stepped towards the old man whose arm snapped out and grabbed the jewel. It immediately filled with a murky violet light, corrupting the holy pink aura. "Do you have any idea what this is?"

Inuyasha shrugged.

"If we knew, we wouldn't have bothered bringing it for you to look at," Kagome said.

"This is a very precious and sacred artifact known as the Shikon no Tama, or Jewel of Four Souls. It is unique and very powerful. It is said that this jewel can multiply the holder's power and even grant wishes, but it comes at the cost of great strife and bloodshed. The jewel's power will draw demons and humans alike who crave its powers. Just having it invites disaster."

Grandpa Higurashi handed the jewel back to Inuyasha and watched in amazement as it instantly purified.

"You have quite a gift there boy. Hold on to that and keep it safe and out of my village. I don't want the kind of trouble it will bring if it is kept here."

* * *

Inuyasha and Kagome set out again the next day. After a few hours travel, they set up camp in a clearing by a river where Kagome could catch some fish for dinner.

"Just where do you think you're going?" Kagome asked as Inuyasha was about to head into the forest on his own.

"I am just going to take a piss," Inuyasha grumbled. Kagome had begun to get on his nerves with the way she was always commanding him to do things.

"Well just use those bushes then," Kagome told him.

"Why, you get your kicks watching people piss? I need some privacy!"

"You're injured and carrying a jewel that attracts demons, you're not leaving my sight!"

"Perverted cat!"

"SIT!" Kagome hissed angrily. Inuyasha slammed into the ground and cried out in pain. "Serves you right! You should just do what I tell you then this wouldn't happen."

"I'm not a damn dog, I am not a stupid pet, I am a person. I have my own mind and body and I'll use them however the hell I want! Now let me have some damn privacy before I piss myself and you have to live with the smell."

"Fine! Go then, and see if I care if some demon comes along and bites your head off!" She crossed her arms and scowled angrily.

Inuyasha stomped off into the forest, looking for a suitable place to relieve himself. He soon decided on a pair of trees with thick trunks with a conveniently large bush next to them. He stood between the trees and watered the bush. Just as he was shaking off the last drops, there was a fluttering and a black mass burst through the bush. Talons dug into his shoulders and the giant black crow lifted him into the air.

Kagome heard Inuyasha scream. Despite her earlier words, she had no intentions of letting him be eaten by any sort of demon. He was the closest thing she had ever had to a real friend, and she wasn't about to give that up without a fight.

Kagome dashed into the woods and saw Inuyasha being lifted by the monstrous black crow. Despite the crow's size, Inuyasha was a heavy burden, and the bird's ascent was slow. Kagome dodged through the trees.

"Inuyasha!" she called.

"Kagome! Help!"

Kagome leapt up and grabbed onto the jeans which were which were currently bunched around his ankles. The crow's grip slipped and Inuyasha fell right out of his kosode. The two landed in a heap and Inuyasha scrambled to pull his, now torn, jeans back up his legs.

"We have to go after it!" Inuyasha said as he scrambled to his feet.

"We have to treat your wounds. Who cares about a crow?"

"Your grandfather said the jewel was important," Inuyasha explained, "And I tied it into the sash I was using to tie the kosode closed!"

"You let it take the jewel? I am so going to S-I-T you for that when we get it back." Kagome threatened as she turned her eyes skywards. "Which way did it go?" Kagome couldn't even see the crow in the sky. It was somewhere, hidden by the treetops that towered over them.

"It's going that way!" Inuyasha pointed to where he could see the glow of the sacred jewel radiating through the trees.

Kagome leapt to her feet and scooped Inuyasha into her arms, carrying him bridal-style as she leapt in the direction he had pointed.

"You could at least let me ride on your back if you're going to carry me," Inuyasha complained, "Carrying me like this is too embarrassing."

"Just keep me pointed towards the jewel and save worrying about your reputation for later!" Kagome ordered.

Inuyasha pointed again and Kagome slightly altered their course. Inuyasha kept pointing the way, but his face was quickly flushing as he tried to ignore the closeness to Kagome. Every leap had her squeezing him into her chest and his face would take on a slightly redder hue in response. He did his best to ignore the fact that his face was practically buried in her hair and her delicate jawline was just hovering enticingly in front of his nose. He turned his head away, forcing himself to ignore her as he adjusted their heading towards the thieving crow once again.

"It's landing!" Inuyasha said.

They stood now at the treeline. There was a bit of a clearing here with a road passing through the center. There were four wagons laden with goods and covered with tarps. A dozen men stood around idly while horses wandered aimlessly through the grass. On top of the wagons, a murder of crows flocked together around the largest crow which was pecking at Inuyasha's sash. It lifted its head, with the glowing jewel in its beak. All the crows squawked and cawed eerily before the jewel disappeared down the lead crow's gullet.

"He swallowed it!" Inuyasha exclaimed angrily.

The squawking abruptly stopped and all eyes turned towards them. Then, in a pulse of dark light, the lead crow changed. Its size tripled from being almost the size of a man to being larger than a horse. Its beak had become large and jagged and filled with sharp fangs that jutted out at odd angles. It now had six glowing red eyes on each side of its head and at a flap of its three pairs of wings, a gust of wind filled the clearing. As if it were a signal, the crows leapt to action. Some leapt into the bodies of men and horses.

"Corpse puppets!" Kagome gasped in disgust.

The rest of the crows took to the air and dove towards Kagome and Inuyasha.

"Flesh flaying claws!" Kagome leapt into action, dismembering five crows with a single swipe of her claws. She had missed one. She turned, aiming to slice it to ribbons, but it was out of her range, diving towards Inuyasha, ready to impale him on its beak. "Inuyasha!" she called out in hopes that he would be able to avoid the bird that would surely kill him if it struck.

"Eat foot you stupid bird!" Inuyasha twirled around, his foot lifting into the air with a flexibility that Kagome had never thought a human to possess. His heel impacted the side of the bird's head and with a snap, the bird was suddenly looking back over its own wing as it barreled into a tree.

Kagome cursed as she felt a wing slam into her gut and bowl her over. She had been paying too much attention to Inuyasha. "Flesh flaying claws!" She mangled another group of crows before glancing back at Inuyasha. He had fallen to his knees and grabbed his bandages in pain. She could see red beginning to stain them. His acrobatic kick had probably put too much strain on his body and reopened his wound again.

The corpse puppets were now upon them. Some bore old rusted swords. Others just swung their rotten flesh at them. They were stronger than the crows, but they were slow and uncoordinated. Kagome cut through them in seconds, slaughtering the crows within.

Now, over half the flock was gone. The birds were beginning to keep their distance, wary of the power of their foes. The lead crow gave a loud screech and they all took off away from Kagome and Inuyasha.

"Cowards!" Inuyasha yelled.

Kagome saw that there were two more dead crows by Inuyasha now. One was on the ground with its head smashed in – by Inuyasha's shoe if her interpretation of the bloody mass on the inside edge of his heel was correct. The other had a broken wing and a snapped neck.

"Are you okay?" Kagome asked.

"I won't be beaten by some stupid birds," Inuyasha grunted in reply. Without even asked for permission, he leapt onto Kagome's back. "Now, lets hurry, before they get away. The one with the jewel went that way!"

Kagome headed in the direction he was pointing, stopping only a moment to grab a bow and quiver of arrows which lay among the stock of the caravan. Kagome was faster than the crows, so it did not take long to catch up. A few tried to dive-bomb her, but her claws easily took care of the weak demons. The leader was not so stupid, he stayed well above the reach of her claws.

Then the murder of crows stopped, diving towards something they couldn't see, but Kagome's ears and nose picked up the indications of a small village.

"They're attacking people up ahead!" Moments later, they burst out of the trees and into a small village. There were no more than ten huts situated next to a river. A group of men were waving fishing spears at the attacking crows.

"Flesh flawing claws." The men were shocked when the birds suddenly became ribbons of blood and flesh raining down on them.

The women and children were running in a panic towards the huts. One girl was frozen in fear as the most monstrous crow of all swooped down and grabbed her, carrying her into the air.

"We have to save her!" Inuyasha growled.

Kagome notched an arrow onto her bow and took aim.

"Wait, you'll hit her!"

"Don't worry, I am a good shot!" She released the arrow. It flew true, striking the bird under the wing. The arrow merely glanced off the bird's feathers before tumbling down into the river.

"That demon's trying to shoot Miya!" One of the men shouted and threw his spear at Kagome.

Kagome leapt away, dodging the spear as she aimed another arrow at the crow and fired. This one had no more effect than the last.

"Those feathers are like armor, I can't pierce it!"

"I have an idea, just don't lose sight of the bird!" Inuyasha reached into the quiver and pulled out an arrow, passing it to Kagome. "Hold that for a minute!" Inuyasha then reached into his pocket and tried to grab a sutra. He pulled at it, and with a tearing sound, half the sutra left his pocket. He cursed, then grabbed the whole stack. He removed the stack in one piece, but the jolt of Kagome's leaps caused him to lose his grip. He reached desperately as the wind whipping about him carried the sutras away, leaving only one in his grasp. It was a sutra written for the purification of evil.

"We only have one shot at this, so don't miss!" Inuyasha folded the the sutra over its width until it was long and thin like a small piece of rope. The tied the sutra around the head of the arrow.

Kagome fired the arrow and the arrowhead began to crackle with energy before it pierced the bird and it dropped the girl into the water. Moments later there was an explosion and sparkling lights raced across the sky.

"That can't be good," Inuyasha said.

"What was that?" Kagome asked.

Miya's scream shocked them out of watching the light show. They could hear that the villagers were coming up behind them as well, hoping to save the girl from the demons.

"After the girl!" Inuyasha yelled. Kagome winced a the loudness next to her ear, but complied. Thy raced along the river, catching up just in time to see her sink under the water. "What are you waiting for?"

Kagome's toes barely touched the water before she leapt backwards away from it.

Inuyasha cursed, "Damn cats and water!"

He leapt from her back and dove into the water. Though the water was deep, there was luckily very little current here, so Miya sank almost straight down. Despite this, Inuyasha's lungs were burning by the time he had reached her. He grabbed the back of her collar and swam to the surface, gasping for breath when his head burst from the water. The girl did not cough or even breathe. Inuyasha swam with all his might to the shore, dragging her up into the grass. Without waiting a second, he tilted her head back, squeezed her nostrils shut, and breathed into her mouth. Her chest rose, then fell, then stopped. He breathed more air into her again.

"Stop him, the demon is eating her soul!" Fishing spears flew at Inuyasha, but Kagome knocked them out of the air and hissed angrily at the villagers who backed away in fear.

Inuyasha checked the girl's pulse. Her heart was still beating. He breathed more air into her again and again as the villagers yelled curses at him. Then, the girl began to cough. Inuyasha turned her onto her side and water spilled from her mouth. The villagers went silent.

"You okay, kid?" Inuyasha asked.

The girl coughed up more water then began to breathe steadily. "I'll be okay."

Inuyasha patted her on the head. Something sharp in her hair scratched his hand. "Ow, what the hell was that." He parted her hair and pulled out a small pink fragment. He had a very good idea of what it might have come from. "Kid, why don't you go back to the villagers, they are worried about you."

"Thanks for saving me." The girl gave him a quick hug then raced over to be embraced by her father. The villagers turned and left towards the village, ignoring the 'two demons'.

"What's that you have there?" Kagome asked.

"I think it's a piece of the jewel," Inuyasha replied.

"You broke the jewel!" Kagome yelled angrily, "SIT!" Inuyasha slammed into the ground.

"What the hell was that for? You're the one who shot the jewel with the arrow."

"The arrow could have never damaged the jewel if not for your sutra!"

"So, you were the one who said she was a good shot!"

"Well, I hit the crow three times as it flew. I am a good shot!" Kagome then sighed and said, "We should probably tell grandpa about this.


End file.
